which may possibly be the remains of the great city of Resen,
being placed between Nineveh and Calah.V As the country
is in complete cultivation, these ruins have been nearly obliterated
by the plough; and as several villages occupy part
of the site, it would be very difficult to ascertain the ancient
extent of the city.
Derawish, the principal village, was, according to tradition,
founded by Nimrud: it is only one quarter of a mile from
the great mound, and is watered by the Seikh Dereh stream,
into which the Karadash dereh falls before it reaches the
Tigris.2 But as both are dry during the summer season, it
is possible that the two great bunds already mentioned may
have been constructed to raise the surface of the Tigris, so
as to give a supply of water to the city at that time of the
year, by means of canals or aqueducts. Canals still exist in
some places along the Euphrates, at the extremities of similar
walls, and they have been evidently constructed there for the
purpose of conveying water inwards to the fertile, alluvial
plain, spreading from the Tigris to the lower part of the Zab.
At about 12£ miles below Zikru-1 awaz, and at the southern
extremity of the district of „Mosul, or Ashur, the greater
Zab3 enters the Tigris.
The Zab, probably the Zerbis of Pliny,4 is formed by
several different streams running through the Jawur mountains,
and converging on the southern slope of the^ great.
Kurdistan chain.
The main branch has its sources at Koniyeh, Karasun, and
Kashen; all three of which places are on the slopes of the
Sar-al-Bagh range, in about 38° 30' N. latitude, and nearly
midway between lakes Van and Urumiyah. The trunk
formed by the junction of these streams has at Kanda Kilissa
an elevation of 6,800 feet above the Black Sea;8 and is augmented
by several smaller affluents as it winds, in a southerly
1 Gen. X. 12. ! Rich, Vol. II., p. 133.
s Called Zerb by the Kurds.—Rich’s Kurdistdn, Vol. II., p. 20. Also
called the Mad River, from its rapidity.—Abd-l-fedd, Mr. Rassam’s MSS.
4 Lib. VI., c. 26.
8 Ainsworth’s Visit to the Chaldeans: p. 47, Part I. Vol. XI., of the Royal
Geographical Journal.
direction, through the mountains. At 37° 19' N. latitude
it bends to the S.W., along a fine valley, in which are many
villages and delightful groves, with varied and abundant
vegetation. After passing near the southern side of the
town and castle of Julamerik, the capital of the Chaldean
Christians, it flows onward, separating the high mountains
on the northern, and the still loftier peaks of Jawur Tagh
on the southern side. It is joined by the Berdizawi, or
western branch, near the village of Kiyau in Warendun, in
about 34° 5' N. latitude, and 43° 26' E. longitude;1 and the
space between these two arms near their confluence is occupied
by the huge mountain mass called Mekannah.2 The Berdizawi,
which bears the local name of the Little Zab, is understood
to spring from the slopes of Erdish Tagh, some miles
southward of the eastern extremity of lake V an; from whence
it winds through limestone formations in the general direction
of S.S.E. to the point of junction. In the latter part of its
course it is augmented by the Mar Hannan, and several other
streams. On both sides of the river the country is well
cultivated, Arid contains numerous villages, which communicate
with each other by means of bridges formed of twigs
twisted together with much ingenuity.3 Soon after a large
tributary from the N.E. enters the Berdizawi near the village
of Leihun, the river throws itself, with a cloud of foam and
spray, over the succession of limestone terraces, which form
at this place a great and striking waterfall;4 and, a little
lower, it joins the eastern branch. After the junction of the
two great arms, the Zab takes the direction of the western
branch; that is, S. of E., till at about 12 miles E. by N. of
Amadiyah it sweeps round to the east, and soon afterwards
receives a moderate-sized stream, which comes by an easterly
course from beyond that town. From hence the general
direction of the trunk is rather N. of E. along the great
valley between the Tura Tobi and Zibar mountains on the
north, and those of Zibeiri on the south, as far as a point
1 Ainsworth’s Visit to the Chaldeans: p. 47, Part I. Vol. XI., of the Royal
Geographical Journal. a Ibid.
3 Ibid., p. 48. ‘ Ibid